At a Moment's Notice
by cltaylor
Summary: Written in Ranger's POV. Based loosely off song lyrics as part of a challenge. When your life revolves around your duty to your country, how do you cope with the possibility of never coming back?


_Author: Christie (MagnificentSin)  
Rating: R (light smut, light language)  
Warnings: Spoilers all the way through Twelve Sharp.  
Adult language, adult situations, adult actions, adult content. Just about everything in this story is adult oriented. There is a little of everything in this fic.  
Disclaimers: I don't own the characters. I don't own the situations. I sadly don't own anything. JE is gracious enough to allow us to play around with her creations. She makes all the money; whereas, I don't make a dime.  
A/N: This was a challenge sent to me by Silent Me (P.I). ;) She asked sweetly if maybe I could come up with an idea in Ranger's POV with these lyrics and here it is. Hope I did it justice. I hope this is what you were looking for!  
Song is called "When Angels Fly Away", by Cold. Lyrics are centered italics.  
Thanks: A special thanks to Lisa and Stayce. You ladies are the best. I really appreciate everything that you do._

* * *

"**_At a Moment's Notice"  
Ranger's POV_**

* * *

_I'll make a soldiers decision to fly away  
Load my gun, paint my face, call me misery  
I can see the sky light up and the ground explode  
Got my sights locked in, I can see you breathe  
Then I watched you fall and somebody scream  
It's the saddest thing when angels fly away…_

* * *

I received a call today and made my decision. I've never hesitated to follow orders, never had a second thought when it came to my country; but today I second-guessed myself for the first time in ten years.

All my thoughts were of her.

For the last ten years of my life, I've pushed everyone away, kept myself isolated from the ones that loved me the most and the only woman to hold my secrets. She was the reason I stayed around, gave me a reason for putting one foot in front of the other and try to square my life away. I've got issues that will always come up in the darkest hour, people that will always be looking for a way to seek revenge. There was no way to know what would come up, so I made no promises; but I still found myself pulling her close. I don't know how she did it, but she was the only one that could get to me. I spent years building walls, making sure that I was well guarded and it took her to make me realize that life was not life unless you had someone to share it with. I wasn't exactly in the place that I wanted to be in life, but I knew one thing for sure.

I wanted her to be in it.

So I do this and I'm out. No more calls, no more secret missions to uncharted territory and no more spying. I'll be free of contract for the first time since I left college. But I couldn't focus on that. I had to focus on the goal. One thing at a time. Never get ahead of myself. No planning of the future. You never know what will happen tomorrow. I had been living with that motto for far too long.

The goal was straightforward enough but difficult one to achieve. I'd been asked to do something that wasn't considered a simple task. This was one that no one expected me to come back from, and still I accepted it. This was my calling, what I had been destined to do in life. I allowed for no regrets in my life. Regrets will get you killed.

* * *

_I can't be home tonight…_  
_I'll make it back, it's all right  
No one could ever love me  
Half as good as you…_

* * *

I heard the door open and close. I could hear her moving around the apartment before she called out to me.

"Ranger?" I could hear the hesitation in her voice.

"In the office." I told her. I was busy finalizing plans and contacting my lawyer. I needed to make sure everything was in order before I left.

Stephanie rounded the corner, a smile spread across her face. She came around the desk and leaned her hip against the corner, arms crossed over her chest. She took a quick glance at the papers spread out but didn't seem to pay them any mind. She moved some of the papers and took a seat on the desk facing me. I finished up my e-mail and pressed the enter button to send it off. She was studying me, her eyes focused intently on me. I leaned away from the desk and caught her staring at my lips. She was blatantly obvious sometimes. She thought I could read her mind, but truth was, she was very expressive. Every emotion was clearly written on her face.

"Babe."

She grinned at me and fingered a couple of the papers laying on the desk beside her hand.

"What is all this?" She asked me, looking at them more closely now. I let her look. I figured it would be easier to tell her this way.

"I have business to take care of."

She looked up at me and her eyes caught mine. I saw the look of concern flash in her eyes, and it was quickly replaced by denial.

"For how long?" She asked quietly. I slid my hand over hers, and took her hand into mine.

"As long as it takes, babe."

She gave a strangled laugh, and started to slide off the desk; but I put my hand on her thigh to keep her there.

"I can't make you any promises." I told her. I stood up and used my index finger to tip her chin up so that our eyes met. There were lots of things I'd like to tell her. What all these years had meant to me. Everything that I wanted to say, I couldn't. I couldn't do that to her. "But, know that you were the only woman for me, babe."

Her face crumpled and her eyes filled with tears. She brought her fingertips to my lips. "Don't say that. You sound like you won't be back."

* * *

_Gotta badge for my scars just the other day  
Wore it proud for the sake of my sanity  
I could see the flames burn bright from the winding road  
Like a haunting page from our history  
Watched a young girl cry and her mother scream  
It's the saddest thing when angels fly away…_

* * *

I had been in worse situations than this and survived; but it was never a good feeling to be surrounded with no backup in sight. I was good; in fact that was the reason why the Government chose to use me. I was the best; but I had been set up.

For the last two nights leading up to all this, my thoughts had wandered back to her. Seeing her face, hearing her cry out my name, feeling her response to me. All those things I would never forget, and never regret.

§§§ ----- §§§

_Her body heat was seeping into me, warming the core of me with her trust and her faith. Her faith in that I would be coming back. There was never a doubt in her mind that I wouldn't be coming home. She was strong. She would never fold in the face of despair and danger. That's what made her my babe._

_I had my face buried in her soft, sweet smelling curls, listening to her breathe in her sleep. Her feet were moving against my legs in a soft caress, our legs tangled with the bed sheets. I tightened my hold on her and pulled her back against me a little bit closer. Her body was soft and pliant and I stirred against her. She gave a sleepy sigh and half turned in my arms. Her eyes were closed and her face held the dreamy qualities of sleep, complete with a half smile. I lowered my lips onto hers and laced my fingers through her hair at her ear. I deepened the kiss, slanting her face, feeling her slowly realize that she wasn't dreaming and her responding to me. Her tongue touched mine and she turned to her back as I leaned over her, bracing myself on my forearm. Her fingernails were digging into my shoulders, sliding their way down my back to my lower back and then back up as I was making my way from her mouth to her chin, down her neck to her chest. She moaned with pleasure as I flicked my tongue over her puckered nipple. She arched against me, and I pressed my hips into hers, pressing her back down into the bed. She was writhing beneath me, and her sweet sounds were wreaking havoc on my control. I glanced up at her. Her face upturned, lips parted slightly, her eyes closed. She was every man's fantasy. _

_I entered her as I took her lips with my own. Her gasp, as I slid deep within her, was caught with my mouth. Her fingers were digging into my back; I had a hand on her hip keeping the tempo at a slower pace. I moved slow, building the pressure up for her, showing her patience; and it was that patience I wasn't feeling myself. She sucked my lower lip into her mouth and flicked the tip of her tongue over it and I felt the grip of my control slip. I rocked my hips into hers and held there. She was grinding against me and I closed my eyes. _

"_Mmmm," She moaned against my lips, "please…"_

_Jesus. She could make a grown man cry._

"_Now…" She pleaded, moving her hips underneath me, "Now."_

_Her hands were everywhere; grasping a hold of anything she could brace herself with. I moved slowly, keeping the pace steady even though she was thrashing underneath me, no longer able to control herself. I felt her body tighten around me and heard her screams. Heard her moaning my name as she arched against me, trying to get as close to me as possible; and still I moved, prolonging her pleasure, catapulting to my own. Just as she was coming down, I slid a hand between our bodies and brought her back up to ride the wave with me. I kept my eyes on her as I finally came, watching her do the same. I leaned over her, content and sated; still breathing hard and bracing myself by the headboard. Her body was completely relaxed and she was wearing a smile. _

"_Good morning to you, too."_ _She told me. _

_I laughed and brushed a kiss over her lips, "It's four AM, babe."_

_Her eyes were closed and she gave a satisfied sigh. "Are you getting up?"_

"_No." No, I wanted to stay here, in her body, in her life. No sense in wanting things I couldn't have. I slipped away from her, and pulled the sheets back up over us. "Moment was right and I thought I would take advantage." _

_The unspoken "While I could", hung in the air long after I uttered the words and the whole mood changed. _

"_Will you be gone in the morning when I wake up?" She asked. I could hear the emotion thick in her voice, but she was trying her damnedest not to show it. I gathered her into my arms and tucked her head under my chin. She deserved better than this, and she deserved better than me. _

"_Yes."_

* * *

_I can't be home tonight…  
I'll make it back, it's all right  
No one could ever love me  
Half as good as you…_

* * *

The guns were pulled before I had a chance to react. I heard the explosions. I reacted as the people began to rush into the set-up, allies and foes. Chaos erupted and the momentary lapse in concentration contributed to my death.

I heard the gunfire. I saw the flash of fire from the barrel of the gun and felt the bullet as it pierced my body. The first one knocked me back. The second bullet took me to my knees and the final one had me lying on the ground in a puddle of blood next to a dead man. I was looking at my fate.

The world was moving in slow motion. I gasped for air like a fish on dry land. Men were running past me, paying no attention to a man covered with blood and filled with bullet holes. Fire was consuming the building; and I was unable to move from the spot where I was left to die. I pulled a lifeless hand up to my chest in an attempt to bring attention to myself. I wanted someone to find me. A swift death from a bullet to the brain was better than being burned alive.

* * *

_You can't be strong tonight…  
Love makes you sad, it's all right  
No one could ever worry  
Half as good as you…_

* * *

I was breathing in the heavy black smoke, willing for death to come to me. Death did not scare me. I had faced off with death plenty of times and walked away. I had been tempting fate for years and getting away without a scratch. I knew my day would come, and it was today. No, death did not scare me. Leaving Stephanie behind left my body cold and paralyzed with an emotion that I never experienced before.

My gaze focused on the ceiling as the flames claimed it. I could hear Stephanie calling out my name. Her breath warm on my neck. Her moaning out as I took her our last night together. Her smiling face as we lay face to face in the early morning hours. Her tears as we parted ways. The last kiss. The last caress. I closed my eyes and took a painful last breath. She was my last everything. I'd have it no other way.

* * *

_I can't be home tonight…  
I'll make it back, it's all right  
No one could ever love me  
Half as good as you… _

* * *

**I** was taking the elevator up to my apartment. It had been eight long months since I had last seen this place. Thoughts of what I had left behind were what kept me going after all this time. To see her face again. That is what made me survive. Made me work hard to get back what I had lost. I learned I didn't know how to give up when I had something to live for.

I alerted no one that I was arriving home, not even Tank. I knew that the control room picked me up on the monitor and I used the keypad issued only to me. Tank would keep everyone from harassing me out of mutual respect for privacy. He knew what I was doing. I needed the solitude. Eight long months to the day, since I went away this last time. Eight long months of hell, torture and hope that had been lost.

I was home.

I had prepared myself to find the apartment boxed up and everything moved out. Word would have gone to my lawyer and he would have given it to Tank. Tank knew my wishes. I wanted him to be the one to tell Stephanie if anything should ever happen to me. I didn't want it to come from a stranger who wouldn't know how she would react. Denial. I knew she would go into denial at first. And then the tears would slowly come. One at a time, sliding down her cheeks and she would sob until you could hear her heart break. Stephanie was like that. She put on the façade that everything was okay, but that was only on the outside. She was like glass, stress her enough and she would break. You just had to be ready when she did.

* * *

_You can't be strong tonight…_  
_Love makes you sad, it's all right  
No one could ever worry  
Half as good as you…_

* * *

The elevator doors came open and I stepped off, crossing the short distance to the front door. I slid my key in but the door pushed open without any real force. I walked into the apartment and realized everything was just as it had been when I left. But what I was met with shocked me as much as the person I was looking at.

Stephanie.

Babe.

Her eyes were wide with shock and her mouth was slightly agape. She was standing in the doorframe of the bedroom, half turned, her hand on the wood frame to support her weight. We locked eyes for a few moments and she brought an unsteady hand to her mouth. I took in the picture she made, taking my time as I took my gaze slowly over her. I was careful to hide the surprise in my eyes. She was just as I remembered her, but softer.

She never took her eyes from me, following me as I took a couple steps towards her and closed the distance between us in a matter of seconds. I took her hand away from her mouth, and her lower lip trembled. Her hand was shaking in mine and I saw the disbelief in her eyes. She swallowed hard, and tried to speak.

"Ranger…" Her voice broke as she whispered my name. Her eyes were full of confusion. "Ranger… Oh my God…"

I brought her hand to my face and she tentatively let her fingertips trace my jaw line.

"It's you…" She told me, her eyes never leaving mine and she was holding my gaze fiercely with those beautiful aquamarine eyes. There were tears pooling in those eyes but none had fallen yet. "I'm not dreaming… It's really you."

I bought her hand to my lips and turned it over to place a kiss on her wrist. I let my gaze wander down her body and settled on her generously rounded stomach. She put my hand on her stomach and put her hand over mine.

"I knew you would come back." She whispered to me. "I knew you couldn't be gone. I woke up every morning knowing that you were out there somewhere. I knew you would come home. You would come back to me."

I pulled her into me, wanting to feel her, and felt the sobs rack her body. The shock and surprise were finally taking over.

"A boy." She sobbed to me. "He was going to grow up to be just like his father."

I pressed a kiss in her hairline above her ear and whispered softly to her.

"Or just like his mother."

"I love you." She sobbed and I was taken aback by the admission. I knew she loved me, but the words had never been uttered out loud before. "I was a fool. I love you and I never told you. I thought I had lost my chance."

"Babe…" I murmured in her ear, "You'll never lose your chance again. I'm home."

* * *

_The End..._


End file.
